Last week I was lucky enough to attend a cooking event hosted by Catelli & Chef Lynn Crawford. The event was to introduce Catelli's new line: Healthy Harvest Ancient Grains. The pasta contains 100% Canadian whole wheat, quinoa, amaranth, teff, sorghum and millet. Have you tried all of these grains before? I hadn't!

Chef Crawford told us that she was excited to pair up with Catelli because it's what she uses at home and in her Toronto restaurant, Ruby Watchco. I'd loooove to visit her restaurant sometime.

Chef Crawford was great! She was hilariously funny, easy going and totally approachable. Hanging out with her for the evening was like stepping into an episode of 'Pitchin' In'. She brought a few of the participants up the front to help her cook and plate. She had my friend Megan (check out her blog here) make pesto in the amount of time it took to cook the pasta al dente and there was an impromptu 'Chopped Canada' plating challenge for a fellow blogger.

Shaking the salad dressing to the tune of taylor swift (complete with dance moves)

Chef Crawford prepared pasta for us in several ways. First we enjoyed a duo of rotini with marinara sauce and spaghetti with basil pesto. Sooo good! I finished every last bite, which shows that healthy eating doesn't have to be boring - Catelli's Ancient Grains pasta tastes great and delivers a ton of nutritional benefits. In fact, I liked the taste and texture better than regular whole wheat pasta. This Ancient Grains pasta will be my new go-to choice for delicious and healthy dinners (or lunches... or any other time I need some pasta!)

After Chef Crawford's cooking demo we moved into smaller groups to try our hands at preparing 'Chilled Noodle Salad with Ginger Wasabi Dressing' using Ancient Grains Spaghettini. It had a ton of fresh, crunchy vegetables and the noodles held up really well to the zippy dressing. I'll definitely be making this one again - in fact I'm already imagining enjoying this tasty salad by the bowlful for summer evening dinners on the patio.

Chilled Noodle Salad with Ginger Wasabi Dressing

1 pkg Catelli Ancient Grains Spaghettini

2 cups snowpeas, blanced in hot water, then thinly sliced on a diagonal

1 cup shelled edamame beans

1 cup red pepper, cut into matchsticks

1 small long english cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced

2 cups napa cabbage, finely shredded

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar

3 tbsp canola oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

wasabi to taste

1 ripe avocado, sliced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

2 tbsp black sesame seeds

Prepare the pasta according to the directions on the package. Rinse with cold water and drain well. Toss with a few tbsp of canola oil and set aside. While the pasta is cooking, prepare all the vegetables. Add the rice vinegar, canola oil, soy sauce, lemon zest & juice, brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger and wasabi into a jar with a lid (or something similar). Shake everything together until mixed well. (According to Chef Crawford shaking is better than mixing, especially if you're dancing at the same time). Toss the salad dressing with all of the prepared vegetables. Put into a large serving bowl and top with avocado slices, cilantro leaves and black sesame seeds.

The event was held at Get Cooking. Their kitchen is beautiful! All of the staff were so friendly and helpful. Get Cooking prepared several appetizers for us and everything was super tasty. I loved the chickpea pancake with kale on top and the beet macaron with hummus filling. This was the first time I had heard of Get Cooking, but I'd love to go back and take one of their cooking classes some time.

Messy Little Cook

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Hi, I'm Courtenay. I truly am the 'Messy Little Cook' - there's sure to be a mountain of dirty dishes and flour all over the place whenever I'm playing in the kitchen. I also love writing about restaurants, other foodie stuff and travel (when I get the chance).

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1) So unbelievably happy to married to this guy 😍
2) Getting ready with our moms, my sister and future sister-in-law. It felt like the greatest game of dress-up ever. I loved my wedding dress and veil
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